Playwright Rinne Groff’s thought-provoking production Compulsion: or the House Behind delves into a story concerning perhaps the world’s most famous diary. PURE Theatre brings this somewhat fictionalized account of The Diary of a Young Girl, also known as The Diary of Anne Frank, to the stage this spring.
The company’s artistic director and co-founder Sharon Graci will direct the production, which stars ensemble members Camille Lowman, David Mandel and R.W. Smith.
Compulsion is an exceptionally unique production as it incorporates puppets into the cast.
“[The puppets] act as a Greek chorus would act, with their own voices on stage, even with their own opinions,” Graci said. “It’s like having another character in a play; they just happen to be marionettes.”
Though Anne Frank is a character in the show, played by a puppet, the play is not about Frank.
Instead, it is a story of how the work was published and eventually became the cultural icon that it is today.
Compulsion centers around Sid Silver, a man determined to tell Frank’s truth to the world. He pens a play based on the diary and, in the process, finds a challenge in telling the whole truth and what the world may accept. At the same time, a complicated question arises: Who owns or has the right to tell Frank’s story? The result of this questioning is an obsession which leads to Silver’s life falling apart over decades.
“In this play, Anne is the 14-year-old girl that we all know her as, and she has a relationship in this play with what Sid Silver is doing. She’s fairly non-judgmental but she’s wise, as wise as she was in real life,” Graci said.
Compulsion takes on the issue of representation in writing. “Unpacking who has the right to tell who’s stories is incredibly topical right now,” Graci said.
Though Compulsion is a fictionalized retelling, the plot is backed by historical truth: Silver’s character is based on the real-life playwright and novelist Meyer Levin.
Upon reading Frank’s diary, the playwright Levin, who often wrote about Jewish identity, reached out to Anne Frank’s father Otto Frank in the early 1950s for permission to write the diary into a play. The two agreed Levin would adapt the diary, and he aided in numerous negotiations regarding an English translation.
Otto Frank went against the agreement and instead made a deal with writers Albert Hackett and Frances Goodrich. Goodrich and Hackett wrote the adapted stage play widely recognized today, which was ultimately more universal, resulting in Levin’s lawsuit against Frank, a part of the plot of Compulsion.
The protagonist of Compulsion, Silver reflects the real-life Levin’s righteous desire to tell the most loyal story possible and the obsession that befell him.
“[Silver’s greatest motivation] is the ultimate pursuit of truth, wanting to tell this story from the perspective of the Jewish people and the genocide and not to soften it. To not lose sight that this crime against humanity was perpetrated against the Jewish people and to make it more palatable to people is a disservice to the story and the truth of what happened,” Graci said.
Silver is a complex and nuanced character especially because he is based on a real person, she said.
Graci cast long-term PURE Theatre ensemble member David Mandel as Silver for his ability to imbue the character with nuance and heart, adding that Silver could be one-dimensional in a lesser actor’s hands.
“He was the right person to play in this role because he is such a tremendous talent to navigate Sid’s softer sides and Sid’s desire to do the right thing,” Graci said.
“[Sid] is very compelling, and there are moments of real sympathy for his desire to do the right thing as he sees it. And David is such an incredible talent in portraying Sid’s unraveling in his pursuit.”
Graci said she hopes audiences will relate to Compulsion. The work speaks to the human condition, she said, because it is human to pursue something if you believe in it relentlessly.
“In terms of directing, acting choices create fertile ground for recognition. As we hear these stories and we watch these characters behave, recognition is firing in our own minds so we can consider our actions or the actions of others in similar circumstances.”
Compulsion will run at PURE Theatre April 20-May 13. Tickets are $30-$45 and can be purchased online at puretheatre.org. There will also be two pay-what-you-will performances on April 20 and April 26.
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